Got some good "jerk parents" stories?

[lilclerk]

Holy crap. Why dont you all just go ahead and make it easy on yourself and just say, "kids below the age of 21, wont remember...."

Well, my first trip was age 6 and what I remember the most is Spaceship Earth and how terrified I was that I was going to fall out and fall alllll the way down the big ball.

 

[brianhorn]

Holy crap. Why dont you all just go ahead and make it easy on yourself and just say, "kids below the age of 21, wont remember...."

seriously,what age do you think a vacation at Disney is meaningfull, certinaly not 21.

 

[shoppingnut]

How much more I would enjoy my job then! :lol:

And everyone in the office would be black and blue.

 

[Hakunamatata]

seriously,what age do you think a vacation at Disney is meaningfull, certinaly not 21.

Good question. At what age for your child? Well if you are going and you leave your child at home, you will never know.

 

[Dragonrider1227]

I recall my little brother in '90 who was about 3 or so and autistic on top of that didn't enjoy many of the rides in WDW. I recall when things got a little chaotic he'd say he had to "go bathroom" 'cause it gave him a chance to relax. However, he LOVED the characters. He gave Pooh a kiss on the nose, and he babbled a blue streak to Minnie at a character breakfast. So it just goes to show that children of any age and mental position can get something out of WDW.

 

[brianhorn]

Good question. At what age for your child? Well if you are going and you leave your child at home, you will never know.

Not sure what you mean by that? As much as I enjoy Disney we did not go until my yongest was 6.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Not sure what you mean by that? As much as I enjoy Disney we did not go until my yongest was 6.

I was saying that if you never take your children while they are young you will never know when or if they would have enjoyed it. Both of my kids enjoyed and remembered and each of them went as early as 2-2 1/2. They talk about it constantly, especially the closer we get to the next trip.

 

[mpoppins76]

My thinking on the "they're too young to remember" arguement...I'm 31 cry: ) and there are things I did just a few years ago that I probably don't remember doing. Doesn't mean I didn't have fun doing it at the time. Same thing w/ the youngins. Just because they may not remember it when they're older, doesn't mean they're not going to have a blast doing it now. :shrug:

 

[brianhorn]

I was saying that if you never take your children while they are young you will never know when or if they would have enjoyed it. Both of my kids enjoyed and remembered and each of them went as early as 2-2 1/2. They talk about it constantly, especially the closer we get to the next trip.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess you just never know at what age your kids might or might not remember an experience. I would be interested in knowing what other people think a meaningful age is

 

[sbkline]

And everyone in the office would be black and blue.

No, not my coworkers...just the customers. :ROFLOL:

btw, since humor was apparently lost on you on the previous post, I wanted you to know that this was a joke.

 

[Nemo14]

Thanks for the clarification. I guess you just never know at what age your kids might or might not remember an experience. I would be interested in knowing what other people think a meaningful age is

I guess that depends on your definition of "meaningful".

 

[brianhorn]

I guess that depends on your definition of "meaningful".

To me meaningful meant that they would remember. So I guess the question should be at what age is it meaningful and what is meaningful to you.

 

[Nemo14]

See, that's where the disagreement lies. Meaningful to me is just that my kids would enjoy it, and that we as a family would enjoy ourselves together. Meaningful to you is different, and I respect your opinion.

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

I don't remember how old you said your kids are. But if they are 3 or under, then many people would argue that it is YOU who is selfish for bringing them. Because at that age, if you're really honest, you're going for yourself and not for them. Because YOU want to go and the kids are part of the package deal. They won't remember it. They will be too little to really appreciate the experience. I'm not saying that they won't enjoy it. They're kids and can enjoy themselves anywhere, whether it be at Grandma's, the grocery store or the county fair. So ya, they may enjoy WDW while they're there, but probably not anymore than they would enjoy themselves at Grandma's for the week. So if your children are under 3, I don't believe for a minute that you go for them and not for yourselves. With what little they can do there, I highly doubt that you would spend a couple grand to take them down there when they could have just as much fun at that age by playing blocks on Grandma's living room floor. My wife and I went before we had kids, because WE like it. It had nothing to do with kids because there were none. Now when they get older, then we will take them there because WE like it and also because we want to share it with them and hope that THEY like it and have the time of their lives as well. But to say that you take a 2 year old to WDW for him and not for yourselves is the biggest cockenbull story I've ever heard.

Now notice at the top of my post where I said that many people would consider you to be the selfish one for bringing your kids. I didn't include myself in that because I don't consider you selfish for doing so. I prefer not to bring my one year old child there for the reasons I gave, but I respect your position of prefering to take yours (again, I don't remember how old you said they are). They're your kids, it's your money, your vacation and your family. If you have a great vacation by bringing your toddlers along, then that's great and I don't fault you one bit for it. And I don't consider you selfish or irresponsible for making that choice. I would appreciate it if you and maggigrace and everyone else on your side of the issue could reciprocate that respect instead of calling the rest of us selfish, bad people, etc.

First, I am the one who realizes that my kids are part of the package deal as you so eloquently stated. That is why we chose to have them.
Second, as far as the kids remembering it..... I can tell you you arte 100% WRONG on this. It is a shame you will never know.
Next .... problem is they have MORE fun then at Grandma's and again you'll have to miss out on this too. Sorry.
Lastly... I respect your decision but just made an statement that in my eyes that it is selfish and I am sticking to it.

 

[amykissangel]

No leash law for me. But to each their own.

Just curious though..... do they eat and drink from bowls on the floor?:zipit:

I have to say after watching 3-year-old triplets, and only having two hands, sometimes "leashes" are necessary, though I would never call them that. I admit, when you see it, the first thing to come to your mind is something negative. But how is it any different than holding onto someone's purse strap in your party in a big crowd so you don't lose them?? And those are ADULTS!

My mom always said she got nasty looks when she used them with me as a kid (I remember red, velcro rainbows...I loved those things :~), and I wasn't even a bad kid! I just always sang songs to myself and wandered around in my own little world - finally my mom stopped using the "leashes", but only because she'd just follow the sound of the singing and she'd eventually find me :~)

I've seen a lot of this since the areas were designated for smoking. My husband is a smoker, so my kids and I usually wait in an adjacent sitting area. I could not believe the amount of kids in the smoking areas (although I do have to complain that the smokers get some pretty good shaded spots!)

The worst was on my last trip in May. There must have been a million school trips to the parks that day (I could tell by all the matching shirts). Anyway, I saw about 8-10 kids in the smoking area with a chaperone. I told my husband that I would be furious if a chaperone allowed my child into a smoking area on a school trip. I wish I could have gotten the name of the school off the shirt, and contacted them. That is totally unacceptable!

This.Makes.Me.So.Angry. I work at a domestic violence shelter, and all of our Children's Advocates were at a conference yesterday, so I took care of some of the kids while their mom's filed restraining orders, etc. One little girl was SO beautiful...couldn't WAIT to hold her! But as I picked her up, she simply REEKED of cigarette smoke...my eyes were watering just holding her! Her clothes, her hair, her SHOES! I truly wanted to cry...the girl was 9 months old. So seeing parents in designated smoking areas hanging onto their kids couldn't make me madder.

A girl I went to school with had the most beautiful voice - could sing anything! As she got older though, her voice started getting lower and rougher, until one day she got back from the doctor (Junior in high school) in tears. The Doctor told her that because she lived in a house where both her parents smoked, the 2ndhand smoke had done so much damage to her vocal cords, it caused vocal nodes, which are dangerous to remove without doing damage. She was crushed - wanted to get a vocal scholarship to college.

That all just makes me so sad :~(

And a note on the taking kids to Disney - don't care if you do, don't care if you don't. Have SO much fun with my friends - drinking, talking stupid, riding the thrill rides over and over and over. Have SO much fun with my family - watching the kid's eyes light up over Bear in the Big Blue House, and Dumbo, and not being able to talk about ANYTHING besides "Mickey's Bad Dream" (Fantasmic) when we got home. ;~) To each his own.

 

[ypcat]

I don't remember how old you said your kids are. But if they are 3 or under, then many people would argue that it is YOU who is selfish for bringing them. Because at that age, if you're really honest, you're going for yourself and not for them. Because YOU want to go and the kids are part of the package deal. They won't remember it. They will be too little to really appreciate the experience. I'm not saying that they won't enjoy it. They're kids and can enjoy themselves anywhere, whether it be at Grandma's, the grocery store or the county fair. So ya, they may enjoy WDW while they're there, but probably not anymore than they would enjoy themselves at Grandma's for the week. So if your children are under 3, I don't believe for a minute that you go for them and not for yourselves. With what little they can do there, I highly doubt that you would spend a couple grand to take them down there when they could have just as much fun at that age by playing blocks on Grandma's living room floor. My wife and I went before we had kids, because WE like it. It had nothing to do with kids because there were none. Now when they get older, then we will take them there because WE like it and also because we want to share it with them and hope that THEY like it and have the time of their lives as well. But to say that you take a 2 year old to WDW for him and not for yourselves is the biggest cockenbull story I've ever heard.

Many might argue that and it may be true for their children, but not all won't remember. Our son is 4 and he's been to WDW 4 times. He has remembered every single trip, including his first trip when he was 18 months. A few of his first words were "Epcot" and "bus". He still talks about that first trip because he wants to go back with his half-brother (who lives out of state and we usually get to go in the off-season). He loves looking at the photos from all our trips, and can tell stories of what we were doing at the time.

On the other hand, I went to MK many moons ago for my first time, and I can't remember it at all. I was probably about 2, so it must have been within the first year or so MK opened. I know I was there because I have pictures. I suppose that it isn't imprinted as much since we lived in Florida at the time and probably only went for the day, maybe 2...in contrast to the week long trips we take now.

Even if kids don't remember it years from now, there is much value in their happiness in the now. And as a parent, MY memory of thier happiness is much more valuable than how many attractions I got to ride. If they can keep the memory, it is just a bonus.

 

[shoppingnut]

No, not my coworkers...just the customers. :ROFLOL:

btw, since humor was apparently lost on you on the previous post, I wanted you to know that this was a joke.

Your humor was not lost on me. If everyone was issued a tazer, something my brother thought was a good idea, things would be better in the world. Well I informed him that if I had a tazer, he'd probably be the first one I'd use it on because he can be loud and annoying.

 

[amykissangel]

:ROFLOL: And that is supposed to impress me and/or make me think that second-hand smoke is anything but harmless why?



As I said THOSE STUDIES ARE WRONG...THEY ARE TRYING TO PUSH AN AGENDA AND DO NOT REPRESENT HONEST SCHOLARLY DISCUSSION on the purported dangers of second-hand smoke [Hint, hint, there are none].

You are incorrect. My cousin has cystic fibrosis, and a short period of time in the area of second-hand smoke has put her in the hospital. I have pre-asthma, which is not brought on by stress or physical activity, but by illness, strong cleaning chemicals, and 2nd hand smoke. Perhaps you meant to say that perfectly healthy individuals are not damaged by 2nd-hand smoke...where again, I would disagree, seeing the damage inflicted by my friend Megan's parents on her vocal cords in the year 2000 because of 2nd-hand smoke.

 

[amykissangel]

And I thought all the time that it was second hand smoke that was making my eyes water and causing my gag reflex to initiate when I am around smokers. Guess I was mistaken and it was just the regular oxygen in the air. Hmmmm...learn something new everyday. Go figure.

LOL...I think you're fabulous.

 

[mousebymarriage]

I have to say that I am one of the parents that used a "leash" on their toddlers. The "leash" I used looked like a little pack for kids except it had a long stretchy cord attached to the back and the parent held the other end. It really gave me piece of mind when letting my toddler out of the stroller. If given the choice between having my little one sit in a stroller ALL DAY LONG and putting them on a "leash" so they could get out , explore and stretch their legs, I opt for the "leash" everytime. WDW is a very crowded place and toddlers can move fast and get lost in the blink of an eye.